Renaissance Resonance

Ah, the great early composers. Bach. Telemann. Scarlatti. Monteverdi. Pachelbel.

Palestrina. Buxtehude. Guillaume de Machaut.

Do some of these names, particularly the latter, not sound familiar? Few people have heard of the Buxtehude and de Machaut, but if Saul J. Weiner '88 and Hajime A. Tokuno '88 have their way, these and other composers of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance will be saved from obscurity.

Weiner and Tokuno two years ago founded Musicus Modus Vivendi (MMV), an ensemble of Harvard musicians dedicated to performing European music from the often-ignored period of the 14th through 17th centuries.

The general manager and music director, respectively, of MMV, Weiner and Tokuno say they started the group to fill what they perceived as a gap in the Harvard music scene. Of the various other Harvard musical ensembles, only the Collegium Musicum performs any music of this early period.

Like Collegium Musicum, the Latin name Musicus Modus Vivendi implies tradition. It means "music as a way of life." The name can be seen as a musical pun on the word "mode," which refers to the type of musical scales early composers used.

The group also chose the name "because it sounds pretentious," Tokuno quips.

MMV began as a loose ensemble in the fertile musical soil of Dunster House. Dunster dwellers Weiner and Tokuno met at the house grill and soon discovered their mutual appreciation of Renaissance music. After Dunster House Resident Composer Charles Kletzsch recommended about 10 musicians who shared their interest, MMV was on its way.

Since then, the group has expanded considerably and has performed at such auspicious occasions as a luncheon honoring Prince Charles during last year's 350th anniversary celebration. To honor both the University and the British prince, the group played music that was at least 350 years old, including a piece composed by Henry VIII.

MMV also performed last Christmas at St. Bartholomew's Cathedral in New York City, singing Renaissance carols from Spain and Germany.

Through aggressive recruiting of freshmen, graduate students, and disaffected musicians and singers from other Harvard ensembles, MMV recently expanded its core to 41 musicians--including the conventional orchestral brass, strings, flutes, reeds and percussion, as well as 14 singers, a lute/guitarist, a harpsichordist, an Irish harpist and recorders. "We're not exactly a modern orchestra," Tokuno says.

The intent of this unusual line-up is to simulate Renaissance intstrumentation, MMV musicians say. Although modern instruments are not identical to Renaissance instruments, playing techniques can transform the sound of oboes, bassoons, trombones and violins into that of more exotic instruments, such as shawms, dulcians, sackbuts and vielles.

Besides its instrumentation and repertoire, what makes MMV unique among Harvard musical groups--and what many MMV musicians say attracted them to the group--is its flexible structure. The full MMV ensemble is the sum of its sections--brass or strings or recorders, for example, members stress. Each section can and does perform alone at functions too small for the entire group.

Tokuno, who conducts each section in individual rehearsals, says, "I work [the sections] up so that each plays as a unit on its own. [Each] section works as a single instrument." Thus, when conductor Richard Laraga rehearses with the entire ensemble, he "conducts sections," not individual instruments, Tokuno says.

The benefit of this structure for the musicians is that it allows them more playing time, members say. "A musician can play a whole five or six minute segment at a time, instead of just a few measures during rehearsal," says Tokuno, who plays violin and recorder.

MMV's next concert, this Sunday at Paine Hall, will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Dutch War of Independence with a program called "Music from the Netherlands." The program will pay tribute to Dutch and Flemish composers of the Renaissance, who Tokuno describes as a primary influence on "what we call modern music, starting with Bach. [The Dutch school] became a longstanding and powerful tradition that influenced every country in Europe."

Tokuno, who does much of MMV's research, says the Lutheran composers were some of the first musicians to write music that was "more entertainment style than restricted to the church." These "great Dutch music masters," including Heinrich Isaac and Josquin des Prez, were responsible for such innovations as homophony, homorhythms and playing tonally. Composers such as Tielman Susato and Pierre Phalez were also among the first music publishers and musicologists. These composers traveled throughout Europe, and their influence traveled with them.

Tokumo and Weiner are not music concentrators, although Weiner did defer coming to Harvard for a year to study guitar at the Paris Conservatory. Much of the historical information comes from MMV's faculty advisers, Mason Professor of Music and Music Department Chairman Christoph Wolff and Assistant Professor of Music Graeme Boone. Wolff is an expert on Bach and German baroque music, while Boone is an expert on music of the Renaissance. Between them, their knowledge spans the entire period of MMV's interest.

"We're one of the only undergraduate organizations that makes our faculty advisers do some work for us," Tokuno says.